Rutgers Expert Available to Comment on FDA Approval of Pfizer Vaccine and the Pentagon and NYC’s Vaccine Mandates
Rutgers University-New Brunswick
PHILADELPHIA – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given the first full approval to a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, which uses modified mRNA technology invented and developed by scientists in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, whose years of research in mRNA science laid a critical piece of the foundation for the largest global vaccination campaign in history.
Today, the US Food & Drug Administration approved the two-dose COVID-19 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Jesse L. Goodman, MD, MPH, professor of medicine and infectious diseases at Georgetown University Medical Center and former FDA Chief Scientist comments. (Audio file available)
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified an antibody that is highly protective against a broad range of viral variants.
What is it like for healthcare professionals to face yet another COVID-19 surge, when many of their sickest patients are unvaccinated against the virus that causes COVID-19? The Cedars-Sinai Newsroom team reached out to some of our #HealthcareHeroes to find out.
A new study in Frontiers in Public Health presents a review of expert opinions on the achievements and shortcomings of the European Union’s (EU) COVID-19 response.
A monoclonal antibody cocktail against the COVID-19 virus discovered at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and developed by AstraZeneca reduced the risk of symptoms in a study of immunocompromised and chronically ill adults later exposed to the virus by 77%, the company announced today.
The early COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the U.S. prevented nearly 140,000 deaths and 3 million cases of COVID-19 by the second week of May, according to a new study.
National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) COVID-19 Vaccination Advisory Committee calls for healthcare workforce vaccine requirements to assure healthcare community is doing all it can to prevent exposure to COVID-19.
Offering covid-19 vaccinations on campus, delayed or phased autumn re-openings, and mandatory face mask wearing are among the steps universities and colleges could take to make them safer places for students returning to, or starting, their studies this autumn, say public health experts in an opinion piece in The BMJ.
Expert Q&A: Do breakthrough cases mean we will soon need COVID boosters? The extremely contagious Delta variant continues to spread, prompting mask mandates, proof of vaccination, and other measures. Media invited to ask the experts about these and related topics.
Heath Damron, director of West Virginia University's Vaccine Development Center, leads a team that has created a nasal mist vaccine against COVID-19, according to tests.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found antibodies that protect against specific mosquito-borne viruses that cause arthritis and brain infections. The findings could lead to a universal therapy or vaccine for the viruses.
The allocation of COVID-19 vaccine between countries has thus far tended toward vaccine nationalism, wherein countries stockpile vaccines to prioritize access for their citizenry over equitable vaccine sharing.
A new study by Indiana University and RAND Corp. researchers assessed the impact of COVID-19 vaccination and found that 139,393 deaths were prevented during the first five months of vaccination efforts in the United States.
Regardless of COVID vaccination and past infection status, the real measurement of immunity for COVID is the quantity and quality of antibodies each person has. Researchers at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore are offering a glimpse at how widespread, rapid antibody testing may be conducted in the near future. This new testing methodology is 99.5% effective, is easy to use, works and looks like a home pregnancy test and yields results in 15-20 minutes allowing for mass testing, particularly amongst children, older adults, and other populations resistant to blood draws. The researchers say the testing may be the easiest, fastest way to determine if someone needs a booster shot.
Vaccine hesitancy comes from the misconception that healthy people rarely get sick with COVID-19. Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine Dean and Executive Vice President Steven L. Berk, M.D, reminds the unvaccinated that once infected with the delta variant, they could possibly infect six people on average, maybe more. The benefits to the community and one's health outweigh any side effects as well.
Concerned about relatively low COVID-19 vaccination rates among U.S. Blacks and Latinos, Glenn Flores, M.D., chair of pediatrics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, is helping to guide a faith-based initiative addressing one of the nation’s most pressing healthcare challenges.
A year ago, the misinformation about coronavirus focused on it being an elaborate hoax, rather than a global health crisis. While more and more people now accept that it is a threat, they don’t necessarily accept that vaccines are our best way to counter it. And sadly, our hospital ICUs are filled with people who have not been vaccinated.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that the delta variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 is largely unable to evade antibodies elicited by vaccination. The findings help explain why vaccinated people have been at low risk of getting seriously ill with COVID-19 despite a surge in cases caused by the delta variant.
New research from the University of Georgia suggests that officials should prioritize contact tracing and quarantine.
A survey of more than 17,000 pregnant and lactating individuals who received the COVID-19 vaccine showed that the individuals did not experience symptoms any more severe than their non-pregnant counterparts.
Messenger-RNA (mRNA) vaccines against the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 provoke a swift and strong response by the immune system’s T cells—the heavy armor of the immune system—according to a study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
The FDA and CDC have just approved and recommended an additional dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines for moderately and severely immunocompromised people. Who should get it?
Earlier this year, West Virginia University's School of Public Health, in collaboration with the CDC, invited all WVU students to participate in a project to help inform policy decisions and practices related to prevention of COVID-19.
Peter Cole, MD, chief of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey shares healthy habits and reminders that may help ease the transition back into the classroom as students begin to adjust to full-time school after months of online or hybrid learning.
Patients receiving in-hospital dialysis treatment for kidney disease produce a larger neutralising antibody response when given the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, compared to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, according to laboratory findings published today (Thursday) as a Correspondence in The Lancet.
Mount Sinai Health System today announced that all faculty and staff will be required to get the first shot of the vaccine by September 13.
The study enrolled 120 transplant patients between May 25th and June 3rd. None of them had COVID previously and all of them had received two doses of the Moderna vaccine. Half of the participants received a third shot of the vaccine (at the 2-month mark after their second dose) and the other half received placebo. The primary outcome was based on antibody level greater than 100 U/ml against the spike protein of the virus. In the placebo group - after three doses (where the third dose was placebo), the response rate was only 18% whereas in the Moderna three-dose group, the response rate was 55%.
The study enrolled 120 transplant patients between May 25th and June 3rd. None of them had COVID previously and all of them had received two doses of the Moderna vaccine. Half of the participants received a third shot of the vaccine (at the 2-month mark after their second dose) and the other half received placebo. The primary outcome was based on antibody level greater than 100 U/ml against the spike protein of the virus. In the placebo group - after three doses (where the third dose was placebo), the response rate was only 18% whereas in the Moderna three-dose group, the response rate was 55%.
Trusting health advice from governments and health workers, and feeling positively about vaccines, are strongly associated with trust in institutions, according to a peer-reviewed study from UCLA researchers published in the August edition of the journal Health Affairs.
NEWS STORIES IN THIS ISSUE: - COVID-19 NEWS: Johns Hopkins Medicine Study Shows Vaccine Likely Protects People with HIV - Johns Hopkins Medicine Documents Stroke Risk in Cardiac Assist Device - CBD Products May Help People with Epilepsy Better Tolerate Anti-Seizure Medications
Closing the racial gap in health outcomes and COVID-19 vaccination rates in Michigan as well as other states is the aim of Michigan State University researchers funded through a $6 million, one-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Building on its success with previous COVID-19 vaccine studies, the University of Kentucky has been selected as a site for a trial to assess dose levels of a Johnson & Johnson booster shot.
A simple addition to injected COVID-19 vaccines could enhance their effectiveness and provide “border protection” immunity in areas like the nose and mouth to supplement antibodies in the bloodstream, new research suggests.
The global eradication of COVID-19 is probably feasible, and more so than it is for polio, although considerably less so than it was for smallpox, suggests a comparative score of technical, sociopolitical, and economic factors for all three infections, published in the online journal BMJ Global Health.
Ask a Scientist: Should I consider getting vaccinated against COVID-19?
Johns Hopkins Medicine has launched an online education toolkit that houses printable materials about COVID-19. The toolkit is intended to improve access for communities that traditionally have challenges accessing health information.
An infectious disease expert explains what the Delta variant means for the spread of COVID-19 and vaccines.
Italy, France, and Greece have made covid-19 vaccination mandatory for healthcare workers, and England is making it compulsory for care home workers and consulting on whether to extend this to healthcare workers and other social care staff.
UC San Diego researchers report that solid organ transplant recipients who were vaccinated experienced an almost 80 percent reduction in the incidence of symptomatic COVID-19 compared to unvaccinated counterparts during the same time.
The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses calls for all healthcare and long-term-care employers to require every member of the healthcare team to be vaccinated against COVID-19, except when medically contraindicated.
AMSSM and 11 other leading sports and medical organizations signed on to a consensus statement to encourage healthcare providers to include conversations about COVID-19 vaccinations as part of the pre-participation physical.
In a newly published study, physician-scientists at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have shown that the flu vaccine may provide vital protection against COVID-19.
All patients undergoing non-emergency surgeries or procedures should continue to have preoperative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for SARS-CoV-2, irrespective of vaccination status, according to an updated guidance from the American Society of Anesthesiologists and Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation.
Florida Atlantic University’s Joanna Drowos, D.O., M.P.H., M.B.A., Schmidt College of Medicine, provides answers to some of the most frequently asked questions regarding the COVID-19 Delta variant, vaccines and public safety measures.